It would be tragic if the accidental combination of a U.S cruise missile and the wall of a N.K reactor were to accidently come into contact by some unfortunate set of circumstances causing an unforseen accident to occur.

Quote:

North Korean nuclear plant poses threat of meltdown

By Hazel Smith

The threat of a nuclear accident on the Korean peninsula is significant, and not confined to potential fallout from the testing of a device. The resuscitation of North Korea's nuclear energy research programme in 2003 in the context of a devastated, technologically underdeveloped and unsafe industrial infrastructure means that all related activities are vulnerable.

Despite an ability to mobilise thousands of civilians to assist in the aftermath of an accident, severe resource constraints, the lack of know-how and the absence of safety procedures mean that it would be difficult for Pyongyang to prevent even a small incident from spiralling out of control.

If an accident took place at Yongbyon, where the country's main nuclear facility is located, the first affected would be the local population of some 120,000 people who live in the county.

Radioactive fallout could potentially affect at least 12 million people living in the populous west of the country in which Yongbyon is situated, while millions in the neighbouring states of South Korea, Japan, the far east of Russia and China would also be at risk. China's eastern provinces, for instance, which include not just remote Manchuria but also the increasingly prosperous Liaoning and Beijing itself, are proximate enough to be vulnerable.